Brighton & Hove Inclusion Support Service (BHISS) - Learning difficulties and dyslexia service

Our team works with schools to help them provide support for children and young people 0 to 25 years old who have severe literacy problems, including including specific learning difficulties (SpLD).

Examples of SpLD include dyslexia, which is difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols and dyscalculia, which is difficulty understanding maths concepts and symbols.

Our team:

• provides training for schools and other professionals to support children, such as strategies to help with dyslexia
• organises access arrangements in tests and exams, such as extra time or a screen reader
• gives advice, guidance and support to schools and parents, including workshops and parent evenings
• provides specialist teaching resources for schools and children, such as dyslexia toolkits
• creates positive links between school and home
• supports schools with the Assess, Plan, Do, Review process
• provides support with Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessments and plans and appeals
• supports children from Brighton & Hove who go to a school outside of the local area, when it’s needed
• works closely with other BHISS teams

BHISS Literacy support

SpLD dyslexia support

​BHISS Literacy offers a range of services to schools to enable them to support their pupils with SpLD dyslexia. This includes:

• specialised assessment and teaching
• training staff
• reporting on the progress of pupils with dyslexia

Other support

BHISS Literacy may help support schools with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans/statements. The team provides direct interventions to pupils with EHC plans or statements for literacy difficulties, and can provide advice and support with SEND tribunals if needed.

If a child is entitled to Access Arrangements for examinations, for example, extra time or permission to use a computer instead of writing by hand, the BHISS Literacy team can help arrange this.

The team offers training opportunities for school staff, in particular training on dyslexia-friendly teaching and support strategies, including computer and technology-based solutions.

BHISS Literacy provides specialist teaching resources for schools and individual pupils, for example, dyslexia toolkits, and offers advice to Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs). All schools have a SENCO.

The team can offer specialist advice and training for SEND hardware and software.

BHISS Literacy supports schools to meet legal obligations to pupils with SEND, for example, helping them to comply with the requirements of the Equality Act, and meet SEND statutory requirements.

BHISS Literacy works to create positive links between school and home, offering support to parent carers and keeping in regular contact.

They offer training on dyslexia-friendly strategies, including computer and technology-based options, and run parent evenings and workshops across the city.

How to get support from us

Your child's school will contact us if they need support from us.

Talk to your child’s teacher or, Special Educational Needs Coordinator if you think your child needs support from BHISS.